Let's turn to the book of Matthew chapter 7. We'll begin reading at verse 13 and read through the end of the chapter, verse 29. Matthew records Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in verse chapters 5, 6, and 7 of his Gospel. So this here is the end of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. And we're going to consider the Word of God found in verses 21 through 23. This is the instruction of Jesus. Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. And many there be which go in thereat, because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits, Do men gather grapes of thorns, or from thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and every corrupt or diseased tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth forth not good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruit shall ye know them. Now the next three verses are a text for tonight. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? In thy name have cast out devils? In thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I confess unto them, I never knew you, Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. Continuing on now. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him to a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, is likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that people were astonished at his doctrine. For he taught them, as one having authority, and not as the scribes. So far we read God's holy inspired Word. Now let's read those three verses again that we're going to consider tonight for 21, 22, and 23. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name have done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Did you know that there are many who will confess Jesus as their Lord, who are not going to heaven. According to Jesus' words there, there are those who said to Him in that day, Lord, Lord, and they point out in the day of judgment, we prophesied in your name, and we cast out devils in your name. And we did many mighty works in your name. Yet in the day of judgment, not everyone that named him as Lord or that did these mighty works will enter into the kingdom of heaven. Many will be sent away by Christ. He will say, depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. I never knew you. Rather startling, isn't it? Who then will enter into the kingdom of heaven? According to Jesus, those who have done the will of the Father in heaven. Notice, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Those are the ones who will enter into the kingdom of heaven. From this we may conclude that to confess Jesus as Lord and to do many mighty works in his name It's not necessarily doing the will of the Father. That's part of it, but there has to be more. And it's important that we know what that more is, and that we are those who do the will of our Father in heaven. We consider, therefore, this passage under the theme, the failure of many to enter in. We notice, first of all, who they are. Secondly, how they fail. And finally, what calling this implies, or what calling comes to us. Christ speaks of those who seemingly served Him and His kingdom. He speaks of those who say to Him, during His ministry, Lord, Lord. They were confessing Him. as Lord. And by confessing Him as Lord, they were acknowledging that He, Jesus, was the promised Savior, the Messiah promised long ago. And that as the Messiah, He was Lord. He had the right to rule them. And they were willing to bow the knee to Him and ready to serve Him as faithful servants. Secondly, Jesus speaks here of those whose conduct seemingly supported their confession. You know, often in the church you'll find members who make a good confession. They confess their faith before the church. Confession of faith. They can make a good confession in the church, society. They can be very pious. Very bold, but they don't live in harmony with their confession. And they prove that their confession is false. Some are what we may call Sunday Christians. They're very pious and holy on the Lord's Day in church among the saints, but then the rest of the week, it's different. And there are those who make a good show and a good confession outside the home. But there's someone else in the home. And that's the real you, who you are at home. And so they live a double life. And their confession is false. And sooner or later, they'll be exposed. But that's not the case here. Jesus speaks of those whose outward conduct appears to be consistent with their confession. Confessing Jesus as Lord, they proceed to prophesy in His name. And we're not talking here about new things, revelations of things to come, like the Old Testament prophets. Prophecy means explaining to others the Word of God out of Scripture. That's prophesying. And that's what they do in their homes. And that's what they do to others in the church, perhaps even out in the community. And they cast out devils in Jesus' name. Now, of course, the day of miracles is past. But there was a time when those miracles were given to prove the truth of one's prophecy. And so Jesus is talking about those who We even cast out devils in his name. And they do many mighty works in his name. Mighty works are works of awesome power that are effective to advance the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Prophesying is such a mighty work. Casting out devils is such a mighty work. But there's more. In our modern-day context, A mighty work is to give generously for the cause of the church and the kingdom and the poor. It's to defend the faith against error. It's to serve in the office of minister, elder, and deacon would call upon. It's to be faithful in marriage. It's to raise a family in the covenant, to send them to the Christian school, to be willing to sacrifice for all these things as the need requires. Many mighty works. And Jesus is talking about these kinds of people, but there's one thing they fail to do. They are not doing the will of the Father in heaven. Now, that's rather striking, isn't it? Confessing Jesus as Lord, doing many mighty works in His name, isn't that doing the will of the Father? According to Jesus, not necessarily. There's more to doing the will of the Father than confessing His name, prophesying these mighty works. And there are some, in fact Jesus said many, who do these works and they're not doing the will of the Father. To help us understand what this is all about, let's go back to the Pharisees. We must see this in light of the general error of the Pharisees and the scribes that Jesus exposed in this sermon, and that influenced not only many in Jesus' day, but also today. There were followers of Jesus that were heavily influenced by the scribes and the Pharisees, and that was their downfall. Let's talk about the Pharisees. The scribes and the Pharisees, of course, did not call Jesus Lord, nor did they work and do anything in his name. They were the bitter enemies of Jesus. Yet they apparently performed many mighty works in the kingdom of God. They were the religious leaders of Israel. The scribes who could read and write were the students of the law. They taught the people the law of God. And the Pharisees were known as the keepers of the law. If the scribes were the teachers of the law, the Pharisees were the keepers of the law. Religiously, they kept the law of God and were shining examples in Israel. They were looked on as the true builders of the kingdom and the church. In fact, there was a proverb, if only two men go to heaven, one's gonna be a scribe and one's gonna be a Pharisee. Yet, they were not doing the will of the Father. That's because their obedience to the law of God was only external, a matter of outward behavior. Jesus exposes this in this Sermon on the Mount. In chapter 5, he talks about the Sixth Commandment. You have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raka, or you blockhead shall be in danger of the council, and whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hellfire. You see, the Pharisees and the scribes, well, they had a very shallow view of the law. Thou shalt not kill. That simply means don't take someone else's life. It doesn't make any difference what's in your heart, what do you think about this person, how you talk to him or about him behind his back. how you degrade him, that's not important. And Jesus says, that's killing your neighbor. And the Pharisees were guilty as guilty can be. And then the seventh commandment, ye have heard that it has been said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Again, a shallow view of the law. Don't commit adultery. Keep your hands off other people's spouses. No sexual contact. We've kept the law. Jesus said, oh, no, you didn't. It goes down into your desires, your motives. If you look upon another woman to lust after her, you're guilty of that commandment, too. That was news to the Pharisees. They didn't like that. They were, in fact, for all their outward obedience, superficial, to which they also added man-made rules that weren't connected to the law of God at all. In spite of all their religious outward behavior, Jesus identifies them here as workers of iniquity. In other passages of Scripture, we find that he calls them hypocrites. and whited sepulchers full of dead men's bones. And the problem, you see, was that they missed the very heart and the essence of the law. Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself. That's what Jesus said, didn't he, when he was asked, which is the great commandment of the law? Scribes were going to give them a corner because they debated endlessly which was the great and which was the least. Well, the great one is this. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength. That's the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Well, you see, the Pharisees didn't know love. They didn't know love for God. And certainly they were not able then to direct the love they should have had to God towards their neighbor. They were motivated by self-promotion and the praise of men and being established more firmly as leaders and in control of the nation of Israel. That's what motivated them, not love. And so Jesus, in another context, Matthew 9, verse 13, says, the Lord doesn't want your sacrifices. He wants you to show mercy. Show mercy. That's love directed towards those who are in need and distress. Show mercy. And earlier in this Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said this, I say unto you, accept your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the strides and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter in to the kingdom of heaven. They were workers of iniquity for all their outward piety. And now Jesus applies the same principles to those that were following him. There were those, many, there were multitudes who followed Jesus for a time. confessing Jesus as Lord, and even doing mighty works in His name. But they weren't doing the will of the Father. They were workers of iniquity. An obvious example would be Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve. He confessed Jesus as Lord, he sat at Jesus' feet, he took what Jesus taught and spread it to others. He went out, he cast out devils with the rest of the disciples. But he showed his true color at the end, didn't he? He was only after power, only after money. And when he saw that he couldn't get that from Jesus, he betrayed Jesus and sold him for 30 pieces of silver. And that applied to many others of those who followed Jesus. Jesus went three different times into Galilee, and the crowds, massive crowds followed him. And then when he turned a few loaves of bread and a few biscuits into food to feed the 5,000, the next day in Capernaum, He confronted them and said, you know, you follow me not because you saw the real meaning of that miracle. He made it very clear, I didn't come here to feed your bellies. I didn't come here to make your earthly lot better. I came here as the heavenly bread of life. And his whole ministry collapsed. They didn't follow him anymore. They were only after bread and earthly gain. Lord, Lord. But they were not doing the will of the Father. The same thing happened down in Judea. Again, the multitudes followed Him. He raised Lazarus from the dead. Wow! Jesus had to go away for several weeks so that he could come back to Jerusalem at the day of the Passover to be crucified according to the will of God. And the people, when they saw him ride into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey, they lined the streets and they put their clothes down as carpets and they shouted, Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. On Sunday. Then on Friday. Jesus allows himself publicly to be shamed before them in the palace courtyard of Pontius Pilate. And they all realized what Judas Iscariot came to see a little time before that. He's not going to give us what we want. And they rejected him. And they demanded that Pilate deliver Judas, I forgot his name. You know him. To them, what shall I do with Jesus? Crucify Him, crucify Him. And they jeered Him all the way to the cross. Those were not people who were doing the will of God. They were workers of iniquity. And Jesus will tell them that in the day of judgment. And he will say, I never knew you. I never knew you. There are those whom Jesus knows. He knows them, first of all, from eternity. There is a people that God has chosen out of the human race and has given to Jesus to be His people. That's the decree of election. He has given them to Jesus to be His and to save them. And from eternity, Jesus knows them, every one of them, by name. He knows them in love. And then He came upon the earth through the virgin birth, took upon Himself our human nature, and ultimately went to the cross. And what did He do at the cross? He took upon Himself the punishment of those whom the Father had given Him and bore it all away and walked in perfect obedience so that in Him they could find a perfect righteousness that was acceptable to God. And as He endured the agony of the cross, He knew each one of His people. John 17. I lost where I'm in my notes. How about that? It's not funny. Well, anyway, he speaks of those whom the Father gave me in prayer to the Lord. And he says, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but those whom you gave me. As he went to the cross, he had those on his mind. And then, those whom Jesus knew eternally and at the cross, he also knows during the course of their life. And that knowledge of love that he has from eternity and had for them at the cross, he irresistibly applies the blessings of the cross to their lives. By the power of the word, and the inner working of the Spirit, He brings them all, one by one, to a conscious faith in Him. And in that faith, He brings them to the knowledge of their sin, and deep sorrow, and deep humiliation, and deep shame, and the deep understanding how unworthy they are. He does that. And then, by the power of the Word and Spirit, He brings them on their knees to God in prayer, to confess their sins, and to seek forgiveness, and to plead with God on the basis of the perfect work of Jesus on the cross, pardon my sins, don't judge me according to what I have done, judge me in Christ. impute to me His righteousness so that I stand without sin in your courtroom. That's what they do. That's what Jesus does with His people. He knows them. And they receive the assurance of God the Father in the Word and in their conscience. Go, your sins are forgiven. You're justified. I see no sin in you. And then, He fills them in His loving knowledge with loving devotion to Him. The faith that brings them to Godly sorrow, the faith that brings them to the knowledge of sin, the faith that brings them on their knees to God, that faith also renews them so that they're full of gratitude and love. And in loving gratitude, depending upon Christ, they begin to keep all the commandments of God. They love God. Perfectly? No, not in this life. They love their neighbor. Perfectly? No, not in this life. They love him. And they begin to walk according to all the will of God. And so, when Jesus knows you from eternity, and He knows you at the cross, and He knows you that way throughout the course of your life, He also knows you in that day of judgment. He doesn't send them away. Now, what happened, I got lost because I skipped a section here. And I'm gonna have to try to find where that is and get us back into that section. Now we're in the day of the Lord's coming. Jesus here speaks of that day. of that day. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. And many will say unto me, in that day. That's the day of judgment. That's the day of judgment. This is the decisive day when the work of God's salvation is finished, the present creation gives way to a new creation, and there's a general judgment, a public judgment, where the works and the life of everyone is on full display for everyone to see. No, I don't think it's gonna be, you're gonna be looking at everybody else's life. You're gonna be looking at your own. You're gonna be looking at your own. And you're gonna see your life like you never saw it before. And in that final judgment, every man is going to be judged according to his works. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that which he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Revelation 22, verse 12. Behold, says Jesus, I come quickly, and my reward is with me to give to every man according as his works shall be. And that day, those who have confessed Jesus as Lord without doing the will of the Father will fall short of the kingdom. It will be revealed that in spite of their nice confession of claiming Jesus as their Lord, in spite of their many mighty works, they were not doing the will of God. They were workers of iniquity. And then, according to the passage, they'll object. Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, haven't we prophesied in thy name? In thy name have cast out devils. In thy name have done many wonderful works. What do you mean we didn't do the will of the Father? Look what we did. And Jesus will say unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. I never knew you. Now plug in what I said about that. I didn't know you from eternity. I didn't know you on the cross. When I gave my life to secure the salvation of my people, I didn't know you while I was working the lives of my own throughout history to bring them to faith and salvation. I didn't know you. That's a horrible thing, you know what? To hear that from Jesus in the day of judgment, I never knew you. You're a worker of iniquity. Depart, depart. So that leaves us with a calling. Now I'm caught up where I'm supposed to be. This only happened one more time. It's been since I retired. I got mixed up like this just once. That was in Granville. But we're on track now. This implies that we must do the will of the Father in heaven. What will be revealed about you or me in that final day of judgment? We belong to this church. were those who confessed His name. Many of you have stood up here and publicly and confessed your faith in Jesus Christ, confessed Him as your Lord. You've gone to church regularly. You sent your children to the Christian school. You've trained them in the Word of God. You gave money for the cause of the kingdom. You read your Bible. You defended the truth. But as important that is, that's not enough. It must be revealed that in all that we have done the will of the Father. That doesn't mean that we have done great and mighty works. And it doesn't mean that we've lived a sinless life, because no one does. Those who do the will of the Father in love have only a small beginning of this new obedience, says the catechism. Now that's a fact. Doesn't mean that we did great and mighty works that had tremendous influence and significance for the church, but it does mean that we loved God. And that we loved our neighbor. And that we've kept the law of God. as an expression of that love and gratitude for what God has done to us and for us in Jesus Christ. And when we fail, as we always do, then doing the will of the Father means we bring our miserable sins to God and find forgiveness in the cross. And then with renewed zeal, continue in our life to serve the Lord in love and our neighbor in love. That's what must be seen in the day of judgment. Now, some things I've said sort of hint at this, but I want to make it very clear. What is the significance, and I'm going to sit down now, what is the significance of the fact that our works will be exposed. And those works will determine where we go. Does that mean that our works earn our place in heaven? Of course not. That was the error of the Pharisees. And all of us who know, who live by faith, know that our good works fall so short, they can't earn anything with God. Well, what's the emphasis on the works all about then? Well, these works don't stand alone. Behind them stands our justification by faith in Jesus Christ. When God draws us unto himself in true faith, he gives us godly sorrow and shame for our sins, and he brings us to the throne of God to confess our sins and then to plead forgiveness, not on the basis of what we've done, not on the basis of promises in the future, but only on the perfect work of Jesus Christ. Lord, pardon my sins for Christ. Don't account me as a sinner. Judge me in Christ so that in Him I'm clothed with His righteousness and I don't appear as a sinner before you. Now that is the basis for our entering into the kingdom of heaven. Right there. That and that alone. Christ's work for which we receive credit. But now how do good works fit in? Those whom God justifies by faith, declares righteous, forgives by that same faith are led by Christ. to do the will of the Father. The Bible is clear that a life of good works, true good works, are the proof that we are righteous in Christ. They're the proof because they are the certain, necessary fruit. For example, in James chapter 2, talking about faith without works, and James says, I'll show you by faith by my works. He goes on to say that Abraham was justified by works, and so was Rahab, justified by works. And that's caused a lot of concern and difficulty for some in the Protestant church world. Martin Luther even said he wondered if James were a real epistle. But when we read that, Abraham was justified by works. That word justified means declared. He declared his justification by his works. He proved his justification by his works. And so did Rahab. That was the declaration of their justification, these works. So there's always that connection. where there is no good works, there's no righteousness in Christ. That will be revealed in the day by your works. One more thing. What do you think the works are that we're going to do in the kingdom of heaven? The works of the scribes and the Pharisees? The works of the followers of Jesus who clung to Him and then abandoned Him? No, the works that we will do in the kingdom are the works of love that we do in gratitude to God for giving us and declaring us righteous in Christ and works that we do in the power of Christ and loving gratitude. That's our life in the kingdom. And so those works become very important in the day of judgment. So let's examine ourselves. You know what I find in myself? I'm surprised how little I do out of genuine love for God and love for my neighbor. I fall terribly short. I see in myself what the catechism says. I only have a small beginning of obedience. And I think you're the same. Let's be careful not to be content with simply outward behavior that's not motivated. by a genuine love and let us grow. Let us grow in love for the Lord our God and for our neighbor. Let us grow in a love that is promoted by the knowledge in Jesus Christ I don't have any sin anymore. Look what God has done. Let that be our motive. And let's grow together in that. One day the Lord is coming. Many will say, Lord, Lord, didn't we do this? Didn't we do that? Depart from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. Let's be warned. Amen. Father in heaven, we're thankful for thy word. We pray, oh God, that thou wilt bless it to our hearts and give unto us A deep abiding love for thee in Christ and for our neighbor and for each other. A love that shows itself in the keeping of thy law. A law that reaches down into our very thoughts and desires and intentions and into our motives. Lord, bless us through this word, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.